


Broken Dreams

by Small_Hobbit



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, M/M, With A Twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-02-03 01:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1726385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Greg has been released from hospital and is expecting Sherlock to be there for him, but instead it's John who arrives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Dreams

Greg was waiting by his hospital bed for Sherlock to collect him. Sherlock was late and it had given Greg plenty of time to reflect on what might have been.

They had planned to move to the Sussex countryside together. Greg had only a few more months to go until he retired and Sherlock had decided that that would be the perfect time for them to move. They had been down and started to look at property, although they’d agreed that they wouldn’t be making any final decisions until after his retirement. He’d even seen a cottage that he would have chosen, if it hadn’t needed quite a bit of work doing to it, and they’d said they’d look for someting similar once he was retired and had more time.

But that was before the motor accident, when two suspects had decided that the best way to avoid capture was to steer their van directly at the car Greg was driving. The fire brigade had had to cut Greg out of his vehicle, and even now he had not fully regained mobility in his arm and leg; he had lost some of his sight and he was prone to headaches.

At first Sherlock had visited Greg regularly, but over time the visits had become less frequent. Greg could understand it; Sherlock would not want to encumber himself with someone whose prospects were so much less than they had been. Greg had already prepared his speech to save himself the embarrassment of Sherlock telling him that living together would no longer work.

Only now it looked as if Sherlock wasn’t even coming to pick him up, because he could see John Watson walking down the corridor.

John smiled at Greg. “Sherlock couldn’t make it in time, so he asked me to collect you.”

Greg nodded in acknowledgement. “Right!”

John took Greg’s case and led the way to the car. As they drove off Greg realised that they weren’t heading for Baker Street and with a sinking feeling knew that they were going to his old flat and that there wouldn’t even be the opportunity to make his face saving speech to Sherlock.

To Greg’s surprise John kept driving. He dozed off as they left London and didn’t wake until sometime later when the car slowed down. The village they were in looked vaguely familiar; he thought maybe it had featured in one of the magazines he’d looked through when he still hoped to be moving to the country, before the weeks in hospital had convinced him this would not be happening.

They drove through the village and finally stopped at a cottage on the far edge. John got out and walked round to open the car door for Greg, and then supported him as he began to walk up the path.

The front door of the cottage was opened and Greg realised that it was the cottage that he had liked so much when he and Sherlock had been looking. But the door was being opened by Mary and not Sherlock.

John and Mary showed Greg round the cottage and he marvelled at all the work that had been done since he had seen it ten weeks earlier. There was even an additional hand rail going up the stairs which would make it easier for him with his damaged leg. It was everything he wanted and nothing he wanted. He wondered what he should say when the Watsons were clearly so happy and he felt so despondent.

Then little Daisy, who had been looking out of the sitting room window made excited sounds and John hurried to open the front door again. Greg hobbled over to see what the commotion was about.

Sherlock came running up the path, pushed what appeared to be a ball of fluff into John’s unsuspecting arms and threw his own arms around Greg.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you at the hospital,” Sherlock said. “but Purcell wasn’t ready for collection until this morning.” Turning to John he took the small puppy back and passed him to Greg. “This is Purcell. I bought him as our housewarming present.”


End file.
